Vehicle pedal assemblies of the type disclosed in, for example, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0137400 A1 include, among other elements, a metal shaft which is mounted in a pedal housing for rotation relative to the pedal housing and a plastic sensor rotor which, in turn, is mounted to the shaft for rotation with the shaft. Currently, the rotor is secured to the shaft either by press fitting the metal shaft to the plastic rotor or, alternatively, the metal shaft includes slots which are splayed open to retain the rotor on the shaft.
A disadvantage associated with the above rotor to shaft coupling structures however is that they are not applicable where both the shaft and the rotor are made of the same or similar materials such as plastic.
The present invention is directed to a simple, inexpensive, and robust assembly for coupling a plastic rotor to a plastic shaft and, more specifically, for coupling a plastic sensor assembly rotor to the plastic shaft of a vehicle pedal assembly.